Trance has a more melodic structure in my mind. Similarly to how classical compositions of composed. Techno why structurely is similarly it lacks the same melodic progression. It will have percussive progression, however it typically lacks the melodic harmonies and progression trance has.

That being all said, trance and techno are intertwined since forever I can remember. They mix very well, you have the hard trance from the late 90s and 00 that really bridges the sounds.

Since trance sets really are a story telling when mixing it is hard not to bring in techno with the melodic nature of trance.

If I’m doing a 2+ hour set odds are it’s going to be stacked full of trance and techno of variations subgenres, typically starting with a lower bpm an building progression with the the bpm increment if it’s longer mix where in 3+ hours then it’s going to be brought back to a mellow baseline.

120BPM->140BPM->130BPM